Well , it seems the U.S. Navy finally got the memo : DO N'T USE ALL CAPS ! IT 'S RUDE !

The Navy is switching to a new messaging system that 's cheaper and more efficient .

And oh yeah , one that does away with a century-old practice : communications using all uppercase letters .

`` Lowercase messages are here to stay ; they provide a more readable format , '' a Navy news release said , citing James McCarty , the naval messaging program manager at U.S. Fleet Cyber Command .

The all-caps were a vestige of a bygone era .

Back in the 1850s , the teletype machines that the military used were made up of three rows of keys -- none of them lowercase letters .

Word of the change went out to all naval commands in April . But it did n't reach the rest of us until the news release this week .

In it , the Navy said it is ditching its in-house Defense Message System in favor of e-mail . One with a very apt acronym : NICE -LRB- Navy Interface for Command Email -RRB- .

The switch will save the Navy $ 20 million a year . And it gets them caught up with current Internet protocol .

ALL CAPS READS LIKE YOU 'RE BEING SHOUTED AT .

Old sea dogs may feel differently . But they have a couple of months to adjust .

The system wo n't fully be in place until next year .

Once it is , naval officers will no longer feel like they 're being barked at .

Except , of course , in person by their superiors .

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The move will save the Navy more than $ 20 million a year

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Using all caps is like shouting in current Internet protocol

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The Navy has been using all caps since the 1850s